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ADDRESSES, 



DELIVERED BY 



GOVERXOR WALLACE, 



AND 



PRESIDENT SIMPSON, 



AT THE 



INDIANA ASBURY UNIVEIISITY, 



SEPTEMBER 16, 1840. 



Kntifanapolfs: 

Printed by Williaji Stacy. 

1840. 



IS40 AN ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT THE 



IKSTALLATION OF PRESIDENT SIMPSON, 



OF THE INDIANA ASBURY UNIVERSITY, 



BY DAVID WALLACE 



JJntiiatiapoirs: 

Printed by William Stacy, 
1840. 



Indianapolis, September 30, 1840. 



Sir: 



We, having been appointed a committee for that purpose, 
would ask in behalf of the Trustees of the Indiana As bury 
University, for the purpose of publication, a copy of your 
eloquent and appropriate Address, at the installation of 
President Simpson. 

A. W. MORRIS, 
ALLEN WILEY, 
JOHN WILKINS. 
His Excellency, 

Gov. Wallace. 



Indianapolis, October 10th, 1840. 
Gentlemen : 

Your flattering note, of September 30th, in 
behalf of the Trustees of the Indiana Asbury University, 
requesting, for publication, a copy of the Address delivered by 
me, at the installation of President Simpson, has been received j 
and I regret that other engagements have prevented an earlier 
compliance on my part: Herev^ith, hov^ever, I present you 
the copy desired, in the hope, that it will yet reach you, early 
enough to meet your arrangements for printing. 

Respectfully, 

Your ob't serv't, 
. : DAVID WALLACE. 
Messrs. A. W. Morris, ^ \: 
Allen Wiley, • 
John Wilkins. 



M 



i&aa 



ADDRESS 



Fellow-Citizens : 

If it be true, — and who so bold as to contro- 
vert it, — "that when men cannot govern themselves they must 
be governed; that if they were perfect in intelligence and vir- 
tue they would need no government at all; or that in nations 
the capacity for self-government is measured by the aggregate 
power of mind;*' what patriot who worships at the altar of 
American freedom; what philosopher, who limits his specula- 
tions only by his desire for human perfectability and happiness, 
can view, with heart unaioved, or with an eye of cold and repul- 
sive indifference, the noble, the generous attempt, made by the 
founders of this University, to relieve our and their children, 
who, in after years, may be gathered within these walls— from 
the degrading condition of the w^orst of vassallages; — to dispense 
even with the necessity of their being much governed, by 
enlarging their stock of intelligence and virtue; in a word, to 
swell the national capacity for self-government, by increasing 
the aggregate power of mind, with the powers of an abundant 
knowledge? Surely there can be none such here. 

But this is not all: we were told by a ripe and eloquent 
scholar, at a recent literary festival in a sister state, "that it is 
" good for us, occasionally, to suspend the activities of trade, 
" the strife of politics, and the frivolities of pleasure, that we 
" may enjoy even a transient repose in the shade of elegant 
•• letters, and survey, even at an humble distance, the uncloud- 
'* ed eminences of Philosophic tiTith.-' This admirable senti- 
ment, beautifully as it is expressed, strikes me as being not 
altogether inapplicable to the present occasion. True we 
have not the shade here alluded to — that has yet to be formed. 
We have none of the proud eminences in view either contem- 
plated by the orator — they have yet to be unveiled: But it is 
to witness the formation of the one, and tlie means to be 



hereafter employed of unveiling the others, that we behold 
congregated around us the tradesman from his shop, the politi- 
cian from his strifes, and youth and beauty from their customary 
amusements. 

Perhaps the hypercritical might choose to question the pro- 
priety of this application; perhaps they would prefer calling 
this the advent merely of those delightful and refreshing scenes 
so elegantly and enthusiastically portrayed by the scholar. 
Be it so. Give them, if they wish it, the benefit of their criti- 
cism; let them, if they will, strip the present of every thing 
like factitious interest — of every circumstance calculated to 
win the eye of an unthinking worldling — we care not. The 
powers of thought, of reason, and of reflection are ours, and 
within our own control; and if we have only hearts that can 
beat responsive to the claims of an ennobling patriotism; or 
bosoms that can be expanded by the w^arming and purifying 
influences of a heavenly benevolence; or minds that can take 
within their grasp the rich tendencies, and the glorious results 
of institutions like this, with fancy as our artist simply, we can, 
this day, in despite of envy or criticism, enjoy, at least, the 
chastening, the elevating pleasure of beholding her penciling 
them, as it were, in bright and unfading colors on the canvass 
of the future. Surely, therefore, I hazard nothing in saying 
that it is good for us that we are here ; good for us, that we 
have stepped aside from our ordinary avocations, that we might 
sanction, by our presence, the designs, and encourage, by our 
approval, the efforts of those, who have sought, by the rearing 
of this edifice^ to advance, in all time to come, man's moral and 
intellectual condition. 

Standing amid the nations of the earth and occupying, as we 
do, a country vast in its extent, unsurpassed, by any other, in 
the fertility of its soil, the salubrity of its climate, and the great- 
ness of its physical outhnes, it ceases, upon reflection, to be 
matter of astonishment, or surprise, that we should behold the 
eye of the great world fixed upon us so intently. The truth 
is, we are entrusted with the guardianship of the dearest in- 
terests of humanity; with the solution of the greatest pro- 
blem that ever engaged the wits, or figured in the dreams of 
Philosophers — the problem "of man's capacity for perfect 



civil liberty." Hence, every step we take, every act we per- 
form, be they ever so trivial, become subjects of the deepest 
concernment to all mankind. In the estimation of the sensi- 
tive philanthropist they are, in the moral and political world, 
what the humblest breeze, or the simplest rill, may be, in the 
natuarl, fraught with weal or woe, health or refreshment, 
disease or death. 

It is, therefore, of incalculable importance, to our faithful 
discharge of this trust, that we should pause, at intervals, in 
the hurry and excitement of our career; that we should quiet 
the restlessness, and bridle the daring energy of that bounding 
spirit of enterprize which so strongly pervades, and so stri- 
kingly distinguishes, the American bosom: to the end, that we 
may, the better, take counsel of sober-thoughted experience; 
that we may, the better, have our intricate pathways illumined, 
and our weak and erring judgements regulated, by the lights 
of the purest wisdom, and the laws of the sternest reason. 

And let no one, I entreat — no American, at least — endea- 
vour to screen himself from this responsibility, much less to pal- 
liate the guilt of wilful and disastrous neglect, by whispering 
to his conscience that the whole is a mere fiction — a splendid 
figment of some over-heated intellect. The world, I assure 
you, can never so view or receive it; for if we fail, if this last 
trial for the success of self-government proves an abortion, 
then, indeed, will the mightiest interest the world ever played, 
or struggled for, be finally and forever lost — an interest, than 
which, to borrow the language of another, "mankind can have 
no greater — save that solemn one — standing alone in its in- 
comprehensible and awful vastness, wherein thought dwells 
upon eternity; which is approached, not through the glare of 
the forum, but through the sacred shadow of the Temple." 

Perhaps some of you, ere this, are ready to exclaim, who 
are we, that we should have so much greatness thrown upon 
us and around us? Why is it that so much more should be 
demanded, or expected, at our hands, than from the hands of 
others? Who are we? The answer to this question unfolds 
the great secret of our vast responsibilities, as well as the real 
nature and extent of our most solemn duties and obligations. 
Who are we? We are sovereigns — sovereigns in the full ac- 



6 



ceptation of the term, clothed individually, and alike, with 
all the powers and attributes of sovereignty; and, in that ca- 
pacity, we constitute, what the world never before so perfect- 
ly beheld, a community of free and equal sovereigns. Where- 
fore it is, that the trial of the great question has devolved upon 
us — the question, whether such a community, with all the ad- 
vantages we possess, can possibly exist, and if so, how long? 

Doubtless the enunciation of such facts may be somewhat 
startling — what! sovereigns! aye sovereigns! Do we not en- 
act our own laws, and execute them? True; but then there's 
the equality spoken of. Yes! and even that too! For in the 
exercise of these, the very highest and noblest, functions of 
sovereignty — the enactment and execution of laws — has not 
the man, who lives in the midst of us, ignorant though he 
may be of the first letter of the alphabet, as much power; and, 
if he wills it, can he not, at the ballot box, neutralize the vote 
of a Webster or a Clay, a Kent or a Story? The point is too 
notorious to be denied; and if seriously reflected upon cannot 
but strike us, I think, as being stored with most useful and ex- 
citing admonitions. 

In other countries where despotism prevails, where the will 
of a single individual is the law, with what intense, overwhelm- 
ing anxiety are his qualifications looked to by his subjects. 
Is he wise? is he good? is he powerful? their hearts instinctively 
sink into the repose of a confiding security; nor ask, nor 
dream of asking, any higher, holier — stronger guarantee for 
the safety and efficient protection of every thing most dear to 
them. But is he ignorant — grossly ignorant? Then indeed, 
how wretched becomes their condition! how fearfully the cast 
and color of their destiny change! The present to them is 
filled with nothing but apprehension and dread, and the future 
promises them no relief. The sheet anchor of their hope and 
confidence is wanting; for where ignorance prevails Avisdom 
is never found, and goodness is always an uncertain guest. 
History too admonishes them that the will of such a sovereign 
is as fickle as the breeze; and far more liable to shed the dark- 
ness of ruin and desolation over his land, than to light it up 
with the sunshine of glorious peace and prosperity. 

Transfer the scene from such a land, so blessed or cursed, as 



the wisdom, or the ignorance, of its rulers may predominate, 
to our own acknowledgedly freeer and happier, and wherein 
do the interests of the actors differ? Are we exempt from all 
anxiety such as theirs? Feel we no interest, like them, in the 
enquiry whether our sovereigns are wise, and good, and pow- 
erful? We have not, it is true, the absolute will of a single 
being to control us — to visit upon us wrath or mercy at his 
pleasure; we require here, the concurring will of the majority 
to establish, for us, our rule of action. But does that circum- 
stance so change our relations; so completely shield us from 
all the evils resulting from the abuse of power, as to make the 
character of the majority, who wield it, a matter of no mo- 
ment to us? Does it dispense with the cautionary and prudent 
requisite that every individual, composing this majority, 
should be wise and good? No: not unless it be demonstrable 
that one ignoramus is more dangerous, and endowed with 
greater capabilities of perpetrating mischief, than a million. 

At least the founders of this institution do not think so. 
With an energy and devotion that beggars all praise they 
have been magnanimously laboring to discharge their duty, 
their whole duty, and nothing but their duty. Their con- 
duct proves that they have solemnly asked themselves tWfe 
questions; will our education alone accomplish every thing 
desired? Will it ensure success to the splendid enterprize this 
nation is engaged in? And as the most unerring test of their 
truth and sincerity, they have fearlessly erected, and commis- 
sioned the very walls which surround us, to answer for them, 
NO! Are they wrong? What would avail all their learning 
— all their wisdom — if the intellect of the nation should be 
shrouded in the night shade of ignorance? Nothing — literally 
nothing! unless, perhaps, to render the darkness around them 
more distinctly visible. 

Conscious of this, their cry is, let the mass be enlightened. 
Plant the standard of education on the throne of every intel- 
lect; unbind the fetters of reason; bid her forth from the dun- 
geon and the shade; invest her with the sceptre of power and 
dominion; and let the limits of her empire be co-extensive with, 
the Umits of mind. 

Possibly the idea, to many, may appear most absurd and ri- 



8 



diculous, that any body, or set of men, claiming to be rational, 
could indulge, for a moment even, the hope that means so 
limited, so utterly disproportionate as these confessedly are 
which we see before us, should, nevertheless, enable them to 
succeed in accomplishing so mighty an undertaking as that of 
illuminating the national mind. But beware how you harbor 
such thoughts or fancies, lest you subject yourselves to the 
most mortifying of rebukes. The untravelled savage of the 
South, whose habitation has been fixed from infancy at the 
sources of the great Amazon; who has loitered from his birth 
on its banks; sported upon its waters — wadded across it — 
swam across it — hurled a stone across it — if you were to tell 
him that, some thousands of miles hence, the little river 
swelled to so vast an extent that it seemed emulous of rival- 
Hng the ocean, he would look up in your face, and scornfully 
smile at your assertion — but forgive him, it is ^the smile of 
ignorance. 

But to whom, it may be asked, are we and the country in- 
debted for this noble manifestation in behalf of such a cause? 
Whose minds conceived, whose benevolence prompted, whose 
energies achieved the erection of this Temple, and on a spot 
too, w^here the sound of the woodman's axe, as he felled the 
forest around him, has scarcely died away upon our ears? 
Nay, whose imaginations so vivid— so pregnant, as it were, 
with creative power, as to give birth to so wild and novel a 
conception as that of planting the garden of the muses on the 
yet unredeemed bosom of the wilderness? Be not surprised, 
and revere them none the less for it, when I tell you that they 
are old and familiar acquaintances — endeared to us, or ought 
to be, by some of the sweetest, purest, and holiest recollections 
of the heart. They have been the companions of our Pioneer 
fathers; they have been our moral and religious instructors. 
Spurning the luxuries of life — the refinements of taste and 
elegance — the comforts of ease and affluence — the allurements 
of the world, with the spirit of a Wesley only to nerve 
them — they laughed the dangers of flood and field to scorn; 
looked the terrors of the wilderness in the face with cheeks 
unblanched; endured cold and hunger without a murmur; 
encountered privation and peril without shrinking; — and dying 



9 



by the way side even, leaving no memorial of their burial 
place — and for what? That the voice of supplication and 
prayer might rise from the deepest solitudes of our vallies; 
that the lamp of eternal life might be lit up in the gloomy re- 
cesses of our lone cabins; — that the departing spirits of their 
rude but noble tenants might be cheered, and sustained, and 
reconciled, in that awful hour, by the glorious promises of 
another and a better world. And now — even now — that all 
these stirring scenes are with the past; that the dreaded solitudes 
are no more; that fenn, and forest, and river have been shorn 
of their terrors; that hungry want, and griping penury, and 
chilling privation have been banished from our hearths; these 
men — so fearless — so self-sacrificing — so persevering — whose 
approach to our solitary abodes has so often brought childhood's 
sunniest smile to our cheeks — are still with us; but — unlike 
every thing else about them — they have not changed. The 
same sternness of purpose, the same unflagging zeal, the same 
untiring effort, as in the beginning, still stamps their every con- 
duct and action. They have suffered no pause in their labors; 
and follow the steps of improvement now, only to gather ma- 
terials, and to seize occasions, the better to scatter the choicest 
of heavens blessings . along their path-way; and at last, as if 
determined to leave nothing undone, that the power and 
sublimity of the principles they teach, may be appropriately 
displayed — they are seeking, out of the immense mass of in- 
tellect around them, to rear a moral and mental pyramid, upon 
whose sumit the beacon fires of eternity shall blaze. 

And, sir, as one — belonging to the same holy order — 
pledged to share the same toils — equally devoted to the 
accomplishment of the same glorious designs — they, and those 
who aided them, through the Trustees of the Asbury Univer- 
sity — have authorized me to deliver, to you, the possession of 
these keys. The act alone speaks its own comment. It needs 
no herald's voice to proclaim how great are the interests they 
have charged you with; nor how unlimited the confidence 
they repose in your judgment — your capacity — your learn- 
ing — your firmness — your prudence — your perseverance — and 
- your integrity. It constitutes you, in a word, the pilot, upon 
whose skill depends, whether this ark of learning shall ever 
2 



10 



reach in safety and triumph its destined port. It makes you 
one of the master builders, whose genius is expected to place 
the cap stone on the moral and mental edifice they are erect- 
ing. And may 1 be permitted to hope, sir, that the possession 
of those keys may be the efficient means of enabling you to 
unlock for us the gates of knowledge; to lead the youth of 
this young and vigorous State to the ''well-head of science and 
betters;" to purify them in their streams; and then, to send 
them forth, as so many shining and burning lights, to dissolve 
the mists, with which ignorance has so long darkened the in- 
tellectual world. 

To say, that in accepting this emblem of authority, you 
have voluntarily assumed responsibilities of unsurpassing 
. weight and magnitude, would, perhaps, be communicating, to 
you, nothing new. You have doubtlessly weighed and mea- 
sured them long since; and as accurately maped the mountain 
difficulties that stand between you and the goal of duty. Be 
this as it may; yet, I pray you to pardon me, if, under the 
influence of an over-anxiety, I attempt an enumeration of 
some of them, in the hope, that it may impress them still 
deeper upon your mind. 

You have become not only a Teacher, but a chief among 
Teachers. In military phrase, you have taken the bounty; 
and, henceforth, we are to look for you not in the circles of 
gaity and fashion; nor among the worshippers of mammon 
either calculating cent per cent; but in the ranks of a corps 
whose business it is to delve in the quarry of mind — to polish 
whatever is rouo;h — streno-then whatever is weak — and elevate 
whatever is lowly there — a corps, by the way, which, when- 
ever the hour of trial comes, will, I trust, prove itself to be our 
National Guard. I speak thus, sir, because it requires no great 
stretch of thought to perceive that the safety, and continued ex- 
istence of our free institutions must, at last, depend upon the 
wisdom, the integrity, and fidelity, with Vv^hich the members of 
your profession shall discharge their duties. There can be no 
escape from it. The fact alone that to them belongs exclusive- 
ly the high privilege of moulding the national mind, must, and 
will, give to them — gainsay it who may — oppose it who 
dare — the power — the mighty power! of controlling the na- 



11 



tional will. Beware then what you teach; look well to the 
principles of your system; see that you form public sentiment 
right; in the language of a veteran in your calling, see that 
you "transmit through the channels of the living mind a dif- 
fusive and sound moral influence;" for "a people morally cor- 
rupt cannot be free." Publish the warning, therefore, far and 
wide — let it be engraved on the front tablet of every Teacher's 
mind, woe to the wretch, who shall have hardihood enough 
to apply the torch of vice to our Temple of Freedom; the same 
eternity of infamy shall await him, that he, who wrapped 
Ephesus in flames, both sought and won. 

But there are kinds in Education. Hence you meet upon 
the very threshhold of your olhce with the diflicult, the truly 
perplexing question, what kind of an education shall 1 teach? 
The responsibility here is unavoidable, and you must meet it. 
Your duty is not confined simply to the mere act of selecting 
— but you have, at the same time, to take care that you select 
the best. What then shall it be? Are you in doubt? Suffer 
me to give the casting vote. Let it be, at least, a christian 
and an American Education. Give us no exotics. Attempt 
not to square and circumscribe, the free American intellect, by 
the rule and compass of some European system. We want no 
Procrustes beds brought here, to torture and subdue, and con- 
tract the sublime energies, and the noble proportions, of our 
own native born American spirit. . 

These- are but hints merely of some of your responsibilities. 
I would that time would justify me in scanning them more 
minutely: But I cannot forget that you have other difficulties 
to encounter — difficulties too, that will require all your tact, all 
your talent, and the constant and unwearied exercise of your best 
j udgment to overcome. The moment you take your seat in that 
chair, and look around you, you will discover that your institu- 
tion is not alone in the lists; that it will have competitors — most 
respectable competitors! for the awards of fame and distinction, 
in its immediate vicinity; and although some, for whose judg- 
ments I entertain the highest respect, consider this an evil, a 
positive misfortune, I confess I do not. Competition! why, sir 
it has been the very life and soul of American enterprise; it 
has made us what we are and what we see; it has been the 



12 



arch enchantresst hath as called up around us those wonderful 
creations of art that must, hereafter, constitute the glory and 
admiration of our age. Competinon! Does it not tax genius 
to the utmost — call forth every latent energy of mind — stimu- 
late every nerve — employ every muscle — give new wings to 
imagination — and a brighter plumage to fancy? And when 
these are combined and concentrated into one effort, do 
not impediments vanish — mountains become mole-hills, and 
old ocean himself bow to the irresistible supremacy of their 
might? What but competition is it that makes the goal of one 
achievement with us, the starting post merely in the race after 
some other, and higher! Why then should it lose all its virtue, 
all its efficacy, the moment it touches the platform of education? 
It does not sir; believe me it does iiot — at least, in the present 
instance, I most confidently predict, that it will not. 

Indeed, so far from apprehendmg any unfavorable conse- 
quences from this competition, I look upon it as calculated 'to 
produce the happiest results. What is to prevent it? Are there 
too many colleges in the State? This question is best answered 
by asking another; are there not materials enough around 
them to give profitable employment to all? No individual, 
in the least acquainted with the extent and population of In- 
diana would, I think, venture to deny that there are. What 
then is wanting to ensure, to every one of them, a prosperous 
and brilliant career? Exertion; a wise and prudent manage- 
ment; a com'se of education, such as the country demands; a 
firm and rigid adherance to every rule and regulation that 
may be established for their government. And here let me 
drop by the way, a word of caution. I have heard the obser- 
vation repeatedly and sneeringiy made, look at that institution, 
see how the number of its students has diminished, as if its 
merits or demerits v/ere alone to be tested and judged of by 
the lenojth of its cataWue of student's names. Now we know 
that a more preposterous, silly, and unjust presumption never 
entered the brain of any man; and yet we know just as well 
that it is exactly that kind of a popular error, that unless 
carefully watched and guarded against is liable to exercise not 
only an undue, but a most dangerous influence over your con- 
duct and actions; as well as over the conduct and action of those 



13 



who are like situated. For mark it; whenever the contest be- 
tween our colleges shall become, not which shall send forth the 
greatest number of the best educated men, but which shall exhi- 
bit, in their respective porticos, the greater crowd, we may then 
set it down that their fate is sealed, their usefulness ended, 
and the hopes of their friends blighted. No, sir, if your ob- 
ject is to give to this Institution, a real, a substantial, and an 
enduring reputation; to make it what its projectors designed 
it to be, a blessing, to the State and Nation; and to place your- 
self on the highest pinnacle of honor in your profession, suf- 
fer no student to leave it, with its parchment in his possession, 
unless he carry with him all the elements of a thorough, 
sound, and practical Am.erican education. 

But w^hat shall I say of the difficulties that await you within 
these walls? When I look over that young assemblage of 
smiKng faces — happy hearts, and bright hopes — when I re- 
flect that almost every possible shade of character, and dispo- 
sition, and grade of intellect is to be, or will be, found there — 
from the quiet, staid, and sober being of mediocrity to the 
wild, erratic, and reckless child of genius; and then that you 
are expected to govern, and subdue, and harmonize so discor- 
dant, so speckled, and heterogeneous a mass — to make Solomons 
out of dunces — Newtons out of stupidity — and Ciceroes out of 
spoiled pets — I am constrained to acknowledge that your task 
is truly herculean; and that unless you bring to it a heart of 
steel, the patience of Job, and a perseverance that cannot be 
conquered, the chance of disappointment and failure will be 
fearfully against you. Why, sir, it is a perfect Chinese puzzle. 
It is worse; for in attempting to unravel the one, you can at 
least be certain of one thing; you can be let alone: but in the 
other not. Is it necessary to enforce upon some unruly 
youngster the rules of college discipline? Nay, is he so very 
a block-head that he cannot learn, and for this you are com- 
pelled to discharge him, the first thing perhaps you hear 
of is an alarming out-cry from his parents; a wonderful la- 
mentation over their poor dear ill-treated and much slandered 
child; accompanied by vollies of abuse and denunciation — all 
his sins, all his defects, even to his want of wit, charged upon 
your very unoffending head; and fortunate may you count 



14 



yourself if the storm shall end here; but unless your Board of 
Trustees shall always be constituted of the right material, ten 
to one, if, when the hue and cry reaches them, they are not to 
be found standing aloof, folding up their arms, shrinking from 
their duty — possibly, endeavoring to compromise the difficulty, 
by meanly offering to bind you hand and foot, and deliver 
you up to be sacrificed. You see then, you must see it, that 
the station you are called to fill, is to be almost any thing 
else than one of uninterrupted ease and tranquility; that it is 
most certainly filled with perplexities, and trials, and petty 
vexations. We hope, therefore, that you have prepared your- 
self accordingly; that you bring with you a mind, sufficiently 
fortified, to meet every exigency that may arise, in the right 
way and in the right spirit; neither too much elevated, by an 
overweening self-confidence, nor too much depressed, for the 
want of it. In a word, that you have not only resolved, in 
the faithful performance of your high and solemn duties here; to 
pursue a straight-forward and an independent course, but that 
you wall most firmly and undeviatingly adhere to it. 
• And as to your reward, I can promise you none other than that 
which flows from the consciousness of duty faithfully and. 
honestly discharged. May this, therefore, be yours, fully and 
completely. Nay more, in the beautiful and pathetic language 
of one of your compeers, one who has grown grey in the service, 
and who spoke the sentiments of a noble heart— ''When for 
the last time, your head reclines upon its pillow, and fancy is 
busy painting, on the memory, the scenes of the past, may the 
consolation be yours, to look over the land, and see here and 
there, faithfully serving God and their country, those who, when 
the tidings of your demise shall reach them, will say, while the 
tear of fond and grateful remembrance trembles in their eye, 
he was my teacher, beloved, honored, and revered!' Blessings 
on his memory! for he taught me to love truth, to love vir- 
tue, and to aspire after communion with their author." 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED UPON THE 



AUTHOR'S INSTALLATION, AS PRESIDENT 



OF THE 



INDIANA ASBURY UNIVERSITY, 



SEPTEMBER 16, A. D. 1840. 



BY REV. M. SIMPSON, A. M. 



PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 



KntJiatia|)olis: 

Printed by William Stacy 
1840. 



ADDRESS. 

When a celebrated Grecian artist was asked, why he spent so 
much time and labor in finishing the productions of his pencil, 
his simple and laconic reply was, "I paint for eternity." And 
were we to inquire why this noble edifice has been erected — and 
why, on this first literary anniversary within its halls, there is 
such a congregation of the talents and beauty of our enter- 
prising, though youthful state — and why such a^deep interest is 
felt in the exercises of this day, doubtless the friends of the 
institution would respond, "We paint for eternity." This 
thought of interminable effects, of ceaseless consequences flowing 
from every important event, confers an inexpressible interest 
upon every effort to cultivate the intellect. The brightest 
colors of the canvass will fade, and the fabric itself decay; 
even the sculptured monument will crumble into dust; but im- 
perishable, as the mind itself, will remain every Hneament, 
feature and color, imprinted upon it in time, and eternity's 
pure light shall only serve to exhibit still more conspicuously its 
excellence or deformity. Fountains, oftentimes, burst forth to 
spread their enlivening waters upon the surrounding land; yet 
in the lapse of time they may cease to flow. But here is a 
fountain now opened, whence shall issue an uninterruptedly 
flowing stream. Tall trees shall grow upon its banks, and 
luxuriate in the richness of the soil, fertilized by its waters;, 
but whether their fruit shall be for the healing of the nations, 
or like the fabled Upas become a source of pestilence or death, 
must be principally determined, by the arrangements adopted 
and carried into perfection. 

Your speaker cannot be insensible to the interest of this 
moment. The surrounding circumstances, the eloquenty im- 
pressive charge, the high trust committed to his care, and the 
almost immeasurable responsibiUty connected with it, stand 
vividly before him. Insensible to feeling must he be, did he 
not tremble at the magnitude of the trust, and yet recreant to 



true principle, did he not entertain some hope of being able to 
discharge its duties with fidehty. The great cause in which 
we are engaged, which has convened this assembly, is of the 
utmost importance. It is no less, than directing the efforts and 
in some degree forming the character of immortal intellects'. 
And it may be profitable for us to consider, some of the reasons, 
which should excite us to vigorous exertions. 

1st. Man is the creature of education. By this we do 
not mean, that either colleges, or common schools give the en- 
tire direction to a man's life, nor yet, that they supply w^hat 
is naturally deficient in intellect; but we do mean, that all 
his actions are under the influence of education. This term, 
in its most extensive signification, includes the development 
and strengthening of man's powers, physical, intellectual, and 
moral, together with the accumulation of all the varied infor- 
mation which he may be capable of receiving. The truth of 
our proposition will be manifest if we consider his circum- 
stances. In infancy, he is the most helpless of all animals. 
Furnished with senses in perfection, he knows nothing. Pas- 
sive, he waits upon the kindness and attention of others, and 
is scarcely able to perform an intelligent action. It is not so 
with other animals. They need not education. Knowledge 
to them is intuitive. The young nursling of the forest, in- 
stinctively springs to its feet. The merry warbler of the 
grove, pours forth its soul in melody, unconscious of the effort 
to Idarn, and though separated from its entire species, as na- 
tural as to mount on sportive wing, is it for the lark or nigh ting- 
gale to strike its enchanting notes. But man learns every 
thing. The use of his limbs is acquired only after long re- 
peated efforts, every word he utters, every musical note which 
he sounds, is the result of imitation. And yet, when his pow- 
ers are developed, he makes all animated nature serve him. 
He harnesses the fleetest to his chariot, and subjugates the 
strongest to his service. 

The same difference is perceptible in their various opera- 
tions. The architecture of animals is regular and uniform. 
The fowls of the air, construct their nests, each after its kind, 
and not so constant is the color and plumage of each species, 
as the order they observe in all their arrangements. The beaver 



builds his dam as his sires did before him, without alteration 
or improvement. The bee, for nearly six thousand years, has 
regularly built and inhabited his hexagonal cell. But man 
varies his work as he is taught. The wigwam of the Indian, 
and the subterranean hovel of the Laplander stand in striking 
contrast to the pyramid of Egypt, the rock hewn palaces of 
Petra, or the hundred pillared domes of Thebes. 

The Hon may be caged for years, he is a lion still. The 
blood thirstiness of the tiger is not abated by confinement or 
disciphne. But how different is man! With the same form, he 
is another being. As a savage, he roams the forest, feeds on 
beasts of prey or greedily devours the flesh of his enemy; has 
no bed but the forest leaves, or the river's sand, and. save the 
skins of beasts scarcely wilder than himself, no protection 
against inclement seasons. He drags out a miserable existence, 
oblivious of all the past but wickedness, careless as to the pre- 
sent, save what will gratify appetite, and thoughtless of the 
future but to perpetrate crime. View him, civilized, instructed, 
illuminated by the word of God, and the agency of the Holy 
Spirit — he has all the treasures of history as examples, a 
knowledge of the world, himself, and his God. Nature is 
tributary to his designs, the elements wait on his bidding. He 
surrounds himself in this world with multiplied comforts, and 
in the next, he stands amid bright and holy intelligences, and 
bows only to the throne of God. 

2d. He is perpetually receiving an education* Were the 
mind inactive, but when urged by effort, we might be more 
careless upon this subject. It would then be as paper upon 
which no characters were traced, and prepared for a future 
penman. But it is not so. A ready penman is unceasingly at 
work, and the sheets are being^filled with characters of virtue or 
of vice. In his waking moments the mind is perpetually active. 
The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hear- 
ing. The youth may not be at school, no means may be em- 
ployed to give him instruction, but he is ever learning. In 
childhood, he acquires the elements of all subsequent knowl- 
edge. He learns to speak, to think, and to feel. His teachers 
are indeed in the nursery, but they are no less efficient for 
teaching unintentionally. From childhood upwards, whether 



at home or abroad, silent or in conversation, at labor or amuse- 
ment, something is occurring to furnish new ideas to the mind. 
Every sight produces an impression, the nature of which, va- 
ries with the cause; every sound suggests thoughts; and lessons, 
determining future character, are every moment furnished 
either from good or from evil sources. 

3d. Our only power is to choose in what the youth shall he 
educated? This is the only question which can, strictly speak- 
ing, be proposed to the parent or guardian. We have already 
seen that a youth is continually acquiring some education, and 
the only power we have, is to give it proper direction. We may 
not attempt to stay the current, but we may prepare the chan- 
neh The father who neglects or refuses to send his son to 
school or to college, only chooses for him an education at home. 
He entrusts him not to men of intellectual attainments and 
high moral worth, but he permits him to associate with the 
licentious and profane. He is taught no science but the science 
of wickedness. He learns the foolish jest, the impure song, 
and the profane exclamation. His teachers are the dtunkard 
and the debauchee; with them, he joins in revelry and crime, 
and bids fair to disgrace his friends, and injure community, if 
not to bring himself to an untimely grave. Yet how many 
fathers choose precisely such an education for their sons, under 
the impression, that they are not educating them at all. 
In this matter a fearful responsibility rests upon parents. A 
responsibility which even in this world is felt, by sometimes, 
bringing down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, and 
the effects, in the invisible world, nought but the pencil of God 
can portray, and no canvass, but eternity contain. We have 
said the question never can arise, whether our youth shall be 
educated, but in what shall they be educated ? In his creative 
wisdom, God has placed some things beyond the control of 
human volition. As the heart waits not on the will to 
give its pulsation, or the nerves to convey sensation, so the 
mind waits not to receive intelligence. Vital action depends 
not on a principle so fluctuating as volition. Nor is it merely a 
capacity for knowledge, but a desire for it, which God has im- 
planted in man. The desire for happiness contains a thirst for 
knowledge. Happiness is but an expanded flow of agreeable 



consciousness. This is greatly dependent upon the healthy 
operation of the senses, which are the inlets of knowledge ; and 
these must be in ceaseless activity, to secure perpetual happiness. 
Hence, wherever the desire for happiness is found, there is a 
thirst for knowledge. This in our common language is termed 
curiosity. It is manifested alike in the politician who eagerly 
waits for news, the child that with breathless anxiety, listens 
to the thrilling story, or the gossip, that longs to hear the 
slanderous tale. It cannot be eradicated by art, and its strength 
can only be estimated, by observing w^hat it has done. It was 
the strength of this principle to which an appeal was made by 
the subtle tempter, when seducing our first parents. "Ye 
shall be as Gods," said he, "knowing good and evil." The 
temptation we too well know w^as a fatal one. With the 
obscuration of the other powers, in the fall, this retained its full 
force. To gratify this desire, men had recourse, anciently, to 
omens, auguries and oracles. Impatient of being denied the 
knowledge of the future, they sought with unhallowed hands to 
tear away the veil, and seek that from demons, which God, in 
his wisdom, had withheld. We need hardly say the attempt 
was vain. Yet, baffled a thousand times, again they turned 
to any impostor, who pretended to be endowed with presci- 
ence. The same disposition is still manifested, in modes 
slightly different. The entire machinery of fortune-telling, 
interpreting dreams, omens, lucky and unlucky occurrences, 
are but a part and parcel of that system, which was devised 
to scale the battlements of Heaven — a part of that Babel, from 
which it is intendeded to look into the invisible world in 
despite of Jehovah's authority. Strange to tell, among professed 
christians, some of them are still found, but their origin is 
easily described. They have been purloined from Pagan 
superstitions, as Rachel stole the Gods of her father. But 
though frequently misapplied, yet Christianity does not seek to 
destroy this principle, she only purifies and directs it to its 
proper objects. Some of her most powerful motives are ad- 
dressed to it. She has drawn in part the veil from futurity. 
Light and Immortality are brought to light in the gospel. The 
glories of a heavenly inheritance stand forth in bold relief; and 
when looking farther and farther into the abode of bliss, nature 



8 



sinks overwhelmed with the excessive brightness of the eternal 
throne, Christianity whispers "when He shall appear we shall 
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Then shall we 
know even as we are known." The desire for knowledge 
then existing, and being intended to exist, boundless and 
insatiable, restricted only by God's eternal law, our only duty 
is to direct it to proper objects. 

4th, Individual character depends upon the kind of instruc- 
tion received. While the mind has power to understand 
almost every subject, it will improve only in those things in 
which it is exercised, and in those it will assuredly excel. For 
this reason early and close attention should be paid to the 
tuition of children. No habit is acquired without practice. 
Practice requires effort, and effort attention. Yet a small 
circumstance frequently determines that attention, and thus 
forms the character for life. A noted duellist traced his course 
to a declaration made by his father to him when he was a little 
boy that he would chastise him if he should tamely receive an 
insult. This fired his bosom with passion, and he became a 
deliberate murderer. The remarkable equanimity of Wash- 
ington has been ascribed, and not improbably, to the influence 
of parental instruction. The genius of Hannibal, while he was ' 
yet a child, was fired against the Romans by his father and he 
became their most successful antagonist. Perhaps the influ- 
ence of education can scarcely be more clearly exemplified 
than in the well known instance of the Spartan boy, who 
having been taught that it was honorable to steal, but dishonor- 
able to be detected, thrust a stolen fox under his cloak, and lest 
it should be discovered stood unmoved until it gnawed into his 
vitals and he fell a sacrifice to his firmness. Nothing is so 
foreign to the mind but it may become familiar. Proof of this 
may be found in the ancient gladiatorial exercises. The most 
delicate and refined females, whose bosoms had else swelled 
with tenderness and love, delighted day after day to crowd the 
immense amphitheatres to witness men fighting with wild 
beasts, or murdering each other. And those voices, which 
were attuned to sound in unison with Heaven's own minstrelsy, 
were heard to swell the deafening shout of applause at the 



gracefulness and dexterity of the stroke which brought the 
hfe's blood gushing warm from its hidden fount. 

Excellence is the result of continued exertion. This princi- 
ple accounts for the acute hearing of the Indian when listening 
for game or an enemy, for the agility of the mountebank in 
balancing in difficult attitudes upon his wire, and for the deep 
researches of the mathematician, who seems to have reached 
the very boundaries of human thought. The youth who is now 
seen sporting in the streets, and foremost in every species of 
impiety, had he been properly educated, might have become 
the pride of his parents, and the glory of his country. 

Since man is thus influenced by his associations, and is the 
creature of education, we see the wisdom and goodness of the 
Creator in subjecting him to a long and guarded pupilage. 
Were he able in a few moments from infancy, to mingle in the 
busy scenes of life, and behold the enormities daily perpetra- 
ted, deep corruption would be the inevitable result. But 
mark the order of Providence ! He must lie in the arms of an 
attentive mother. Her watchfulness guards him from danger. 
And if she be, as Heaven designed her, an exemplification of 
amiability and grace, ''if Heaven be in her eye, grace in her 
step, in every gesture dignity and love," if she have the spirit of 
her station, a heart deeply imbued with the riches of the gos- 
pel, she will cultivate in her offspring a spirit of tenderness 
and affection, a spirit of piety and love. And if in after life 
he should be tossed upon a tempestuous sea, and fearful ruin, 
amid conflicting elements, threaten his destruction, if he should 
even be agitated by the ragings of passion, his soul will ever 
and anon return to that peaceful calm which a mother's 
prayers and tears have inspired in his bosom. The same 
principles extend to a more advanced period of life. The stu- 
dies pursued, and the teachers from whom instruction is receiv- 
ed, must in a great degree determine future character. Who 
would send a son to be reared among savages, or would wish his 
companions to be the licentious and profane? If then the 
kind of instruction determines character, the prosperity of our 
youth depends upon their parents, their teachers and their 
friends. If we wish them to grovel in ignorance and crime, let 
us permit them to associate with those already proficient in ini- 
2 



10 



quity, but if we wish them to be virtuous and honorable, if we 
wish them to aspire to places of usefulness and distinction, we 
must sedulously promote their improvement. 

5th. National character depends upon the same cause. This 
we might deduce, by argument from the previous position. 
Nations are but combinations of societies, societies aggrega- 
tions of families, and families a union of individuals. Whatev- 
er then affects individuals, must be expected to exert its influ- 
ence upon nations. 

The ancient Greeks devotedly aspired after physical excel- 
lence. By athletics they improved the bodies of their youth. 
The honors bestowed upon victors in the games were well cal- 
culated to excite ambition. From childhood upwards they 
sought to develope every muscle and give to every feature its 
full expression, and modesty itself was sacrificed to this all ab- 
sorbing passion. 

The legitimate consequence was, that, under such training, 
the human frame attained its maximum of development. Their 
beauteous forms still stand unrivaled upon the painter's canvass, 
and swell in full symmetry from the sculptured marble. And 
at present, artists never think themselves capable of excellence 
until they have first studied those productions of antiquity. 
Critics have thought and affirmed that these productions were 
not copies from nature ; but if not, they clearly manifest the pre- 
vailing taste of that age, whose ideal forms have never been 
surpassed. Praxiteles and Apelles still live in their works as 
master spirits in this department of design. Patriotism also 
was early taught their youth, and every thing dishonorable and 
disgraceful was associated with the coward's name. And their 
plains and mountains have long been celebrated in song, as the 
tlieatres of their valor. In the later days of Rome wealth was 
substituted for honor, and for bravery, intrigue. Scarcely had 
the maxim "Omnia venalia sunt Romse" been adopted, until 
her youth burst the barriers of law and trampled upon rights 
human and divine. In our own age, the dauntless bravery of 
the Swiss, the enterprise of the English, the inextinguishable 
love of home felt by the Chinese, and by the Laplander, the ar- 
dent love of hberty in Columbia's sons, and the abject submis- 
sion of the Hindoo, are all the result of early education. The 



11 



elements may be found in the language of the nursery. An 
eminent physician has attributed much of the difference be- 
tween the volatility of the French, and the gravity of the Ger- 
man, to their treatment in infancy. Bethis as it may, the Ger- 
man is taught to respect the opinions of antiquity, and he plays 
his music, smokes his pipe, and dwells as his fathers did be- 
fore him. The French are taught that glory consists in inno- 
vation, and with them a government is prostrated, and a new 
one erected in less time than many would determine upon the 
structure of an edifice. 

Qth. True fame and prosperity depend upon intellectual and 
moral culture. However famous some men may have become 
without personal culture, they could never have received that 
fame but through the culture of others. The heroes of Troy 
had long since been forgotten but for Homer's song, and the 
noble exploits of ancient worthies live only upon the page of 
history. But those who became famous even as heroes, ex- 
celled their associates in erudition. Nestor, Ulysses and oth- 
ers are represented as eloquent as they were brave. Alexan- 
der enjoyed the instruction of Aristo.tle, and received those 
enlarged and comprehensive views, which enabled him to sweep 
as the spirit of the storm over the habitable world.* Great 
men are indeed generally the birth of great times. Men as 
splendid in intellect, as courageous, as patriotic as ever breath- 
ed frequently are unknown, because the times demand not 
those qualifications. In a young Alexander is personified the 
spirit of the times, when he complained lest his father w^ould 
conquer the whole world and leave no brilliant achievement 
for him. It was this spirit that Alexander directed, and this 
led him to triumph; yet none but a master spirit could have pre- 
sided in such a tempest. But passing^from heroes, whose 
names are those which stand conspicuously on the roll of fame? 
The good, the v>^ise, the great men of splendid intellects and 
refined feelings. — Men who were beloved by their coun- 
try, their age, and the world. The names of Cincinnatus, of 



* In one of bis letters to his preceptor, he remarks " For my part I had rath- 
er surpass the majority of mankind in the sublime parts of learning than in ex- 
tent of power and dominion." Julius Csesar, though a distinguished hero, has 
always been justly admired for his perspicuous style and extensive erudition. 



12 



Luther, of Bacon, Newton and Howard, shall never die. 
Though ages may roll away and myriads perish, yet phenix like 
they shall rise afresh from the ashes of each generation, and in 
memory's record, ''their youth shall be renewed as the eagles." 

The position may be more fully illustrated by a reference to 
national history. The fame of no nation has been trans- 
mitted to us, but by records. And just in proportion to 
the number ofwriters do we perceive the character of the 
times. Athens and Sparta were rival cities. Both aimed at 
dominion, both strove for excellence. At Sparta, learning and 
science were prohibited. Her youth were taught w^ar, and the 
bravery of her soldiers has never been surpassed. At Athens 
they taught philosophy; her temples rose in splendor, and her 
academies were crowded with students. What has been their 
fate? iVthens was burned, but still she flourishes. There 
Euripides, Sophocles, and iEschylus, sung, and the air sweep- 
ing over Attica's sacred soil, and visiting those revered ruins, 
still brings to our ears the dying strain. There too, Demosthenes 
spoke — and eloquence was his. Before him stood breathless 
multitudes, wdio hung upon his lips. Rage and indignation 
against tyrants, were kindled by his words, and Phihp dreaded 
the power of his voice more than the array of fleets and armies. 
His voice yet rings. Many a youth has felt the impulse of 
liberty waked by his words, and many a tyrant has turned 
pale, when he has heard the mountains reverberating with those 
echoes of liberty, marshalling her heroes to glorious conflict. 
Xenophon and Herodotus wrote, and Sparta is known, but in 
the page of the Athenian historian. vSocrates, Plato, and Aris- 
totle philosophized, and while the modern philosopher rejects 
their errors, he yet bows before the strength of those intellects, 
which pierced the si/iTounding gloom, and towered like the 
white topped mountains, above the dark and pendent cloud, 
displaying their beauties to a cloudless sky. Sparta is gone, 
but Athens is immortal. 

Carthage was once the rival of Rome. She had wealth al- 
^most incalculable; the daughter of the ''merchant lady of the 
east,'* she inherited her treasures. Her palaces rose in gorgeous 
architecture, and her citizens were brave. Once in the terrible 
conflict, her sons scaled the mountain's heic^ht and came down 



13 



on Italy's fair plains, as a devastating torrent, and the '^'eternal 
city," as an aspen leaf trembled upon her seven hills. Then 
the Carthagenians might have been victorious, but alarmed at 
an unusually terrific storm, they delayed to prosecute their ad- 
vantages, and their ignorance was the salvation of Rome. 
Where now is Carthage? Gone! forever gone. Her palaces 
are in ruins, her splendor exists but in song, and even her war- 
riors are principally indebted to the history of her enemies for 
their posthumous fame. Rome still exists, though not in modern 
Rome. Wander among her broken columns, and ruined edi- 
fices, she is not there. Gaze upon her crumbling statuary, and 
her dimmed paintings, she is not there. All is lifeless. Then 
open the treasures of mind. Tully still speaks in his enchant- 
ing strains. Horace, Ovid, Virgil, and Juvenal, alternately 
depress and transport us with their songs. Livy, Tacitus, 
and Sallust present us living Rome. We hear her orators and 
poets, and her most glorious triumphs are enacted before our 
vision. Her laws still flourish in other lands and other climes. 
Rome said "Carthago delenda est" and she fell, without dis- 
tinguished sons to transmit her name to posterity. But while 
science flourishes and literature survives, Rome can never be 
forgotten. 

We have another striking contrast in the Israehtes and the 
Egyptians. The princes of Egypt had large dominions; their 
land was fertile, and watered by their celebrated river, brought 
forth aboundantly. They also paid considerable attention to 
education, but their trust was in their wealth and power. 
They aimed at immortality, and the broad based pyramid was 
erected, towering with its mountain structure towards heaven. 
Each rocky eminence was carved into a Sphinx, and cata- 
combs, in endless succession, and vast in extent, were formed 
deep in the mountain's side. Their bodies were embalmed to 
resist the corrosion of time, and the latest posterity was ex- 
pected to do them honor. The enslaved nation had no such 
monuments, but their history was written. Moses, whom 
Lord Bacon quaintly styles "God's first pen," formed that re- 
cord which still speaks of the beginning of ages. In that 
history alone, ancient Egypt truly lives, all else is impenetra- 
bly enveloped in mists and obscurity. The builder of the 



14 



pyramid, has for ages been unknown, and the name of the 
embalmed has long since been forgotten. And when those 
pyramids shall have crumbled into dust, and the last trace of the 
embalmea shall have forever vanished, that history shall still 
live to tell the thrilling story of Israel's triumphant disenthrall- 
ment from the yoke of bondage. 

We need not dwell upon ancient history to prove that na- 
tional prosperity depends upon intellectual and moral culture. 
Why is modern Europe now the centre of civil power? The 
soil is not more productive, the climate is not more delightful 
than those ofregions in Asia and Africa, and yet every thing good 
and great upon the eastern continent, in modern times, has had 
its origin there. One answer only can solve the mystery. 
Thfey are enlightened. Take a single example. Place your- 
self in the army of Julius Caesar, cross with him the British 
channel, — stand on Albion's shore, and view the chalky cliffs 
of that romantic isle. Who are there? An ignorant and de- 
graded race, savages and idolaters, blessed indeed with fair 
complexions and muscular forms, but dark and debased in intel- 
lect and morals. Then Italy thought the conquest of such an 
isle an insignificant occurrence. Small was it in territory, and 
placed at the verge of creation. Go there now. Brittania 
would smile at the thought of Italy sending an invading force. 
Though her territory is but little larger than that of our own 
state, her sails whiten every sea and crowd every port; and 
millions in foreign lands bow at her name and call her mistress. 
Her possessions are extensive in every quarter of the globe, and 
small as she is, she wields an almost omnipotent influence. 
What has produced this mighty change? Education is there. 
"The school master is abroad." Her venerable universities 
have illuminated her sons, and widely diffused the spirit of 
enterprise. They have discovered and practically applied 
the maxim, 'Hhat knowledge is power." The arts flourish in 
unprecedented vigor. The hoarse voice of her steam engines, 
and the ceaseless hum of her machinery are heard in every 
part of the island, and every effort is made by her philosophers 
and laborers to bring the useful arts to perfection. Conse- 
quently wealth flows into the bosom of the nation and every 
land becomes tributary to England's felicity. 



15 



Contrast the former with the present condition of Russia. 
Two centuries ago she was a vast uncultivated territory, her 
population were principally peasant slaves attached to the soil, 
the absolute property of their masters, and so ignorant that 
they dreaded to receive offered liberty lest they should be 
wholly ruined. She had no ships and consequently no com- 
merce, no science and consequently no arts of a refined nature. 
But Peter the Great, by his mighty efforts changed her entire 
system. He introduced the arts from abroad, commenced - 
commerce, founded colleges, and encouraged learning in 
every manner, and Russia awoke as from a dream. Now she 
has become the rival of England. Her commerce is^increasing, 
her resources are daily being developed, and her wealth is accu- 
mulating. Already the haughty Ottoman shrinks from her 
glance as she wistfully looks towards the Black Sea, and trem- 
blingly alarmed he calls upon England and France as his only 
hope against encroachments upon his territory. Let us take 
but one example more. What has so wonderfully changed 
America in the last two hundred years ? Why now smiles in 
fruitfulness this western valley, so recently a gloomy wilder- 
ness? Enlightened man has been here. Our less enlightened 
brethren in South America have waded through seas of blood 
to attain liberty which is as often wrested from them by the 
chieftain,s grasp. And even at this moment they are suffering 
from opposing and contending factions. They lack intelli- 
gence and virtue. But our Union has arisen as the sun in its 
strength, her internal order scarcely disturbed, her external 
rights esteemed sacred. Her commerce is wide as the earth, 
and she presents the sublime spectacle of a free nation, unembar- 
rassed by debt, uncontrolled by religious monopolies, at peace 
with all the w^orld, rising in intellectual and moral grandeur, 
and throwing open her territory to receive the distressed im- 
migrant as he flies from despotic powder. Many of her sons 
have become eminent in science, and even for excellence in the 
fine arts, some have worn the laurels in foreign lands. Do we 
inquire the cause? Go to the rock of Plymouth and look upon 
those venerable men. Their first care was to plant churches 
and schools, to promote intelligence and virtue. I trust I shall 
be indulged in quoting one of their acts as early as 1 647 upon this 



16 



interesting subject. It is as follows: " To the end that learning 
may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church 
and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors: It is 
therefore ordered by this court and authority thereof, that eve- 
ry township within this jurisdiction, after the Lord has increas- 
ed them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forth- 
with appoint one within their tow^n to teach all such children 
as shall resort to him, to write and read whose wages shall be 
paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by 
the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part 
of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; 
provided that those who send children be not oppressed by 
paying much more than they can have them taught for in other 
towns. " Sec. 2. And it is further ordered that when any 
town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or 
householders, they shall set up a Grammar school, the master 
thereof being able to instruct the youth so far as they may be 
fitted for the university." Here we see th^ beginning of that 
system which has been follow^ed by so happy consequences. 
America is happy because she is enlightened and virtuous. 

7th. Colleges and Universities are essential to the improvement 
and diffusion of education. Many who agree wdth us in ex- 
tolling the advantages of common schools, are somewhat 
doubtful as to the necessity for colleges. They are viewed as 
aristocratic institutions imparting only the unnecessary refine- 
ments. These opinions however, we conceive arise wholly 
from mistaken views. In order that we may perceive the true 
tendency of colleges, it may be remarked, that society is inter- 
ested in having individuals, talented, learned, energetic and 
useful; and whatever contributes to the formation of such 
characters, contributes to the happiness of society. That a 
person maybe rendered in the highest degree useful,four things 
are especially necessary, the mind must be well stored with 
general knowledge, there must be a capacity for close and 
thorough investigation, ability to communicate information in an 
interesting and successful manner, and a disposition to use the 
utmost exertions for the amelioration of the condition of man- 
kind. Our only question then is, have colleges the tendency 
to form such characters? 



17 



They furnish the outlines of general knowledge. The 
relations of the elements of matter are taught in chemistry, 
their combinations in all their varied forms, and the laws which 
govern them in forming those combinations. Mineralogy 
teaches the character and qualities of the various substances 
composing the earth's structure, and the uses to which they 
may be applied. Geology unfolds the structure and arrange- 
ment of the earth's surface, and the position of the various 
strata in reference to each other, with the various fossils found 
among their masses. Natural philosophy explains the laws of 
motion, and the mechanical action of bodies, one upon another, 
it describes the fundamental principles of mechanics and the 
structure of machinery, and teaches how to estimate the effect 
of different powers variously combined. All the motions of 
nature are observed, from the movement of the birds in the air, 
to the ship upon the mighty deep. The propagation of sound 
and the flash of lightning, — the colors that sparkle in the dew 
drop as it glistens on the trembling leaf, or display their lustre in 
the bow of peace that triumphantly spans the heavens — all are the 
subjects of Philosophy. Astronomy leads us still farther. She 
takes the student, already acquainted with our own world, on 
a tour of discovery through the universe. Visiting each planet 
he becomes acquainted with the laws that govern those mighty 
orbs as they move perpetually around the great centre of the 
system. Then he careers with the comet, through unmeasured 
space, nor stops until far beyond the visible creation, ten 
thousand times as many worlds are brought to view. 

But the student is taught not only the nature of the world 
in which he is placed, and its associated orbs, he is also taught 
the history of man, the various principles that have elevated 
and overthrown nations, the different events that have trans- 
pired, and the period of their occurrence. The actions of the 
good and great are held up as examples, and the conduct of the 
bad, as warnings. He is taught to know himself. The phe- 
nomena of mind are unfolded, with the laws of our being, and 
he is taught to think with accuracy and precision. And history, 
the grey-headed chronicler of years, towering with Alpine 
grandeur, shows those laws exemplified in their consequences, 
and is thus an ever bidding monitor to lead to truth. And last 
3 



18 



of all he is led through every department of nature to view the 
grand designs of the Supreme Creator. With such knowledge 
the person is no longer a stranger in a strange land. Wisdom, 
power, benevolence and justice are every where displayed. 
All nature hath a tongue to tell of wisdom, there is "music in 
the spheres." And as he walks abroad in the fields, he views 
*'Books in the running brooks," ^'Sermons in stones and good 
in every thing.*' 

Colleges are places of severe mental discipline. The 
student is secluded from the business and perplexities of life 
and consequently the mind is not distracted by those cares 
which ordinarly disturb the train of meditation. His associates 
are all engaged in study — he has exam.ples of applica- 
tion in his preceptors — honor is enjoyed only by the successful 
student — in his studies he becomes acquainted with the char- 
acters and actions of the wise, patriotic and virtuous; he ad- 
mires and imitates — and all incline him to improve every fleet- 
ing moment. The studies at which he is engaged require 
strong and continued mental effort, and their tendency is to 
produce habits of close and profound thoughto Among these 
the mathematical course stands pre-eminent. So fully were 
even some of the ancient philosophers apprised of this, that 
Plato inscribed over the door of his academy "Oudeis ageome- 
trikos eiseltho." "Let no one j who is ignorant of geometry 
enter." In our own country the distinguished Hamilton was 
so sensible of the effects of geometry upon the mind, that in 
preparing his celebrated State papers, he read Euclid regularly 
once a month. Algebra also, especially in its higher branches 
is well calculated to discipline the mind. These are not only 
essential to prepare the student for active life, but by giving 
him habits of thought and examination, they prepare him for 
extensive usefulness. His intellect is expanded, and his powers 
developed. He is neither deceived by specious pretences, nor 
does he shrink from arduous investigation, and when in after 
life, he is consulted, his judgment will be respected. 

Colleges impart qualifications for communicating infor- 
mation in an interesting and successful manner. And this is 
one of the grand objects of a thorough education. Without it 
knowledge is comparatively useless. The individual it is true, 



n\ 



19 



enjoys a pleasure which sensual gratifications can never afford. 
Rittenhouse swooned at beholding the transit of Venus. New- 
ton was so overwhelmed with rapture, when near the comple- 
tion of his immense calculations that demonstrated the plane- 
tary laws, that he was unable to proceed. And Archimedes 
going into a public bath, while intent on solving the problem 
of Hiero's crown, suddenly discovering the method, sprang 
from the baths and rushed naked intogthe streets crying, **IhaVe 
found it, I have found it." True, it elevates the intellect and 
makes the individual sit "upon the Alps, the Appenines, and 
weave his garland of the lightning's wing." But still the great 
object is to communicate truth to others. Powerful orations 
may sway the opinions of listening thousands, may turn the 
majority of a community upon subjects of immense importance. 
Mary, queen of England, is said to have dreaded John Knox, 
more than all her other subjects, because she feared the effects 
of his popular oratory. But a written work of strong sentiment 
and happy expression can do still more. It speaks not to one 
community, nor country nor age. Its dominion is the world, 
its duration that of the earth. For the press has almost se- 
cured to valuable productions, ubiquity and eternity. Elemen- 
tary knowledge and habits of thought can never exert their 
full influence without the power of language, and this is par- 
ticularly taught in a college course. Attention is directed to 
the structure and analysis of language, mode of expression and 
formation of style. For this purpose Rhetoric and Logic are 
taught. Exercises in writing and oratory are periodically 
required. And a critical knowledge of the Latin and Greek 
languages is imparted. 

We are aware that it has become fashionable to declaim 
against the study of those languages, and to exalt at their ex- 
pense the natural sciences. We are not willing to yield to 
others in an attachment to the study of nature, but we must 
enter our protest against the neglect of those ancient languages. 
And as this is a subject upon which considerable discussion has 
taken place, it may claim our passing notice. 

That the study of those languages is necessary for the finish- 
ed scholar, few are found to deny; and we are at a loss to con- 
ceive how any, aspiring to elevated situations, can voluntarily 



20 



deprive themselves of such advantages. When a student is 
unable from uncontrollable circumstances, to give himself a 
full education, there may be a propriety in his paying but little, 
if any attention to them, but circumstances should be imperious 
to warrant such a course. The study of the languages has 
been by the imprudence of friends exposed to unnecessary op- 
position. There is a great tendency to run into extremes upon 
ahy subject, and as a mote near the eye covers a large field of 
view, so any subject upon which the mind is intently fixed is 
in danger of being unnecessarily magnified. 

Some have attributed to the ancients all excellence, and to the 
moderns merely imitation. If specimens of oratory are required, 
they refer immediately to the ancients. Beauties of composi- 
tion, strength of sentiment, to them only shine upon the classic 
pages. Nor is the reason difficult to be discovered. They 
have studied the ancients to the exclusion of the moderns. 
Their minds were wholly engrossed in youth with classic lore, 
and the whole current of thought has flowed in that direction. 
The former system of education was such, that nearly the 
whole time was occupied, in studying these languages, and 
it is not astonishing that the judgment should be biassed by 
such a course. Others perceiving the folly of such assertions 
have run to the opposite extreme, and condemned the languages 
as wholly useless. The truth to our minds appears thus. We 
find many beautiful examples of composition, and many ad- 
dresses of finished oratory among the ancients, but more beau- 
ties and stronger. oratory are found among the moderns. They 
have a wider field of illustration, and a greater number of 
powerful motives. Neither extensive science, nor the all 
absorbing truths of Christianity were understood by the ancients. 
In originality, love of nature, and abstraction they manifest 
considerable excellence. Their times favored these. They 
had few works but those of nature from which they could copy, 
and not expecting great practical results, sublime sentiments 
and abstractions were their chief delight. Yet our English 
poets love nature as ardently; and the abstractions of a New- 
town and Laplace are superior to any found among the ancients. 
Besides the greater part of what is excellent in the writings of 
the ancients we find embodied in those of the moderns. If we 



21 



are asked why then we advocate the study of the ancient 
languages, we answer, 1st. Because there are many turns of 
expression which lay open the springs of thought, which never 
can be translated. And this was probably the origin of the 
famous expression of Charles V. that "he who learned a new 
language acquired a new soul." These turns of expression 
frequently suggest new ideas to the mind and cause it to 
examine the subject more closely and thoroughly. ■ 2nd. Be- 
cause professional men must understand the technicalities of 
their science, but these being nearly all derived from those 
languages, a previous knowledge of them is required. 3d. Be- 
cause there are writings of peculiar interest to the accomplished 
physician, -attorney, divine and general scholar, which have 
either never been translated, or yet possess peculiar interest in 
the original. The physician wishes to read after Galen and 
Hippocrates just as they w^^ote, and the attorney to have the 
gradual formation and expansion of that system of jurisprudence 
which is the glory and safeguard of our country. The divine 
must also long to read the word of life just as it dropped in all 
its richness, freshness and power, from the lips of Him w4io 
spake as never man spake. He thus seems privileged to stand 
in ancient company and to view those subhme scenes transpiring 
around him. But 4th, Our strongest reason is that such 
knowledge is necessary in order to obtain the perfect mastery 
of our own language. The great object of the scholar is to per- 
suade and convince. For this all the powers of language should 
be exhausted. Its strength, its beauty, richness, copiousness, 
should all be the subjects of continued study and investigation. 
Words are the instruments of the writer and the orator, and if 
expected to do execution, they must be well chosen, expressive 
and polished. If we examine the prose and poetic writings of 
the last century we find most that excel are the productions of 
classic pens. True, some wrote well by forming their style 
after classic authors, and by severe study imitating their meth- 
od, but already their works are nearly forgotten, and soon, with 
but few exceptions, they will have passed from the memory of 
man. 

Who, that has any aspiration to leave behind him a name, 
will w^ish it to be written in other than imperishable characters. 



22 



Yet, comparatively few can be writers, but all may be orators. 
It has not appeared strange to us, that an opposition to the 
study of the languages should have arisen in France and Ger- 
many. There, a popular orator is regarded with jealousy. 
The tyrant wishes the populace to sleep. He dreads the first 
symptoms of waking, and consequently wishes not to see the 
elements of agitation accumulated, lest they should explode 
with volcanic violence, and upheave the foundations of their 
governments. But why should opposition be indulged in this 
country? Here every man is by birth-right an orator; he is 
invested with the attributes of sovereignty, and the affairs of 
state are subjects of daily discussion among the humblest citi- 
zens in community. Our only security is in the intelligence 
and virtue of our citizens, and every man, who aspires to 
eminence, should seek such an acquaintance with language, as 
shall enable him to pour forth truth in all its strength and 
beauty; to clothe it in its own heavenly habiliments of loveliness, 
and to acquire the. power of holding thousands entranced with 
the resistless magic both " of thoughts that breathe and words 
that burn. " 

But it may be objected that some of our best orators never 
studied these languages. We admit that to all general rules 
there may be exceptions, but in this case they will not at all 
invalidate the general principle. To obtain their eminence, 
these men have employed their whole time; they have labored 
assiduously, and formed their style according to the model of 
those imbued with classic lore. By industry and perseverance 
they have excelled, and they merit praise; but there is one 
grand distinction between the accomplished linguist and such 
speakers and wrtiers. In the Hoguist, oratory is but a small 
part of his powers, it appears rather as an incidental circum- 
stance. His language is the natural expression of his thoughts. 
With the other, oratory is every thing; for this he has studied 
night and day. His writings will be few and ephemeral, for 
his whole efforts have been employed to obtain the use of 
language, as it would have flowed almost spontaneously, if he 
had thoroughly studied that department. But is the example 
of those who thus arrive at eminence to be a model for others? 
How frequently do we see men raised in obscurity, destitute of 



23 



means, rising from one degree of wealth to another, until they* 
proudly place themselves upon a standing of equality with the 
oldest families in the land. Will they therefore wish their 
children to commence destitute of means? Do you find them 
giving away their fortunes to others, and turning their sons 
pennyless upon the world, because, in this way they com- 
menced? Do they seek the humblest associations for their 
daughters, because their mothers made such selections? They 
wish, and wish properly, to place their children on vantage 
ground, and this they should do, in education as well as in 
wealth. And if we refer to those orators, we find them the 
most ardent advocates for the thorough education of youth, 
because they well remember the difficulties through which they 
were compelled to struggle. But we are told that but few 
become orators. We admit that but few comparatively, attain 
to excellence in any department. Few of the sons of the 
wealthy continue to amass wealth. The man, who fares sump- 
tuously, has a son in a few years reduced to beggary; while 
the poor rises to opulence and splendor. Energy, ceaseless 
energy, is necessary. Indolence, whether found on a farm, in 
a shop, an office, or college, never can succeed. But of those, 
who succeed in completing a college course, but few are indo- 
lent. Such generally tire by the way; to them discipline and 
close application are irksome, and they gladly leave their stu- 
dies, to engage in business, where they will have greater op- 
portunities for irregularity. There is an additional reason 
why the languages should be taught. By means of com- 
merce the different parts of the world are in rapid approxima- 
tion. Men of different languages must commingle, and hence, 
the importance of understanding, especially, the languages of 
modern Europe. But as many of them are derived from the 
Latin and Greek, the easiest and best method to acquire them, 
is first to study their originals. 

Colleges cherish and cultivate dispositions for enlarged 
efforts to ameliorate the condition of man. The student is 
taught the relations he sustains to his fellow men of his own 
country, and of the whole world, and the obligations arising 
from those relations. Political economy exhibits the propriety 
and policy of active exertion, while Moral Science occupies 



24 



still higher ground and shows that man to be criminal, who 
does not employ himself in labors of benevolence. The con- 
duct of the brave, the patriotic, and the philanthropic, are held 
^up as examples, and every motive is brought into requisition, 
to stimulate to honorable enterprise. With such convictions 
of duty, the thorough scholar bursting the barriers of prejudice, 
views himself no longer living to himself alone; lays broad plans 
for future usefulness, and in w^hatever profession he may labor, 
the principles which guide him, are those that dignify and en- 
noble humanity. 

8th. Colleges are not only thus useful in furnishing such individ- 
uals to act their part in community, hut they also elevate the stan- 
dard of professional attainments. How many men rush un- 
qualified into all our responsible professions. Scarcely has 
a young man completed the acquisition of the simplest elements 
of an ordinary education, whan he assumes a title, and the lives 
or property of his fellow^ men are trusted to his care. And? 
when once entered upon the profession, so far from develop- 
ing his powers, he looks around and finds associates as ignor- 
ant as himself. They "measure themselves by themselves*' 
and aspire for no higher excellence. While they are yet grov- 
elling in the basement, they fancy they have attained to the 
summit of the temple, because from the obscurity of their vis- 
ion, they can perceive nothing above them. There is scarce- 
ly a more pernicious influence operating against our learned 
professions. The young man fancies that he can gather laurels 
to decorate his brow, and that unless he hastes they will all be 
worn by others. He counts the days as years until he engages 
in active life. And even sometimes, by a strange mixture of 
self esteem and benevolence, he imagines the w^orld will 
plunge into ruin, unless he springs to the rescue. The ancient 
athletes could spend years in preparation, every muscle was de- 
veloped, every expedient tried, a long course of training endur- 
ed, and when admitted to the lists, instead of entering hastily, 
they deliberately commenced the contest. All this was for a 
fading laurel. But when property and life, when the dearest 
interests of men are at stake, our youth rush unprepared upon 
the course, and as might be expected fall exhausted ere they 
reach the goal. If young men but know the advantages of a 



2b 



full preparation, they would count themselves happy, if at 
twenty five or thirty, they were prepared to commence a pub- 
lic career. 

9th. Colleges are essential to the prosperity of common 
schools. They furnish writers to explain and illustrate the 
various branches of an ordinary education. And they furnish 
competent teachers, to take charge of schools and Seminaries. 
Too frequently, for the welfare of community, is the education 
of immortal minds committed to those who have neither capa- 
city nor disposition to communicate useful knowledge; who? 
themselves wrongly taught, perpetuate errors more difficult to 
be removed, than the inscription from the plate of steel; who, 
without any sublime sentiments or noble aspirations, under- 
take to direct the developement of that intellect designed to 
scale the topmost battlements ofnature. Look where we may, 
no truth is more clearly taught, than, that common schools 
never flourished without colleges. The history of France, 
England, Scotland and Prussia, might all be cited in proof. 
And, in our own country, where is common education most 
generally diffiised? Just where the first colleges were estab- 
lished, as radiating points of literary light. Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, the seats of Harvard and Yale, have in this re- 
spect furnished an example worthy of imitation. On this sub- 
ject many have improper views, regarding colleges, if not injuri- 
ous, at least, as unnecessary to common schools. A distin- 
guished secretary of a neighbormg commonwealth, in one of 
his illustrations, remarks that the proper objects of attention 
are common schools ; for as heated air always rises, so com- 
mon schools prepare the way for colleges. It is true that this 
connection is reciprocal, and that colleges will generally, not 
continue to flourish, where common education is neglected. 
But although heated air will invariably rise, yet, blot out the 
sun from existence, or direct his rays from the earth, and thick 
ribbed ice would hold universal dominion. Blot out colleges, 
and a Cimmerian darkness would overspread the land, and the 
huge icebergs of the frigid zone would but faintly represent, 
the more intense induration of all the feelings and powers of 
mind. 



26 



10th. Colleges^ or high institutions of learning, have always 
been the precursors of great improvements, whether in gcwern- 
ment, or in the arts of civilized life. In every land remarkable 
for intellect, we find them in existence. Even in the captivity at 
Babylon, the Jews sustained high institutions for that age of 
the world. Shortly after Constantine, a university was estab- 
lished at Constantinople, which served as the depository of 
eastern literature; but colleges, resembhng those at present in 
existence, were not established until a much later period. In 
the ninth century, Europe produced two distinguished individ- 
uals, Charlemagne in France, and Alfred, in England. Each 
used every means to encourage education, and seminaries were 
founded, which were the swelling buds, that afterwards unfold- 
ed into the universities of Paris and Oxford. And is it not re- 
markable that the land of Charlemagne and of Alfred, af- 
ter a lapse of one thousand years, still retain a proud pre-emi- 
nence, over the rest of Europe. At what period, college 
honors were devised and degrees conferred, it is now difficult 
to determine; but their origination is by many ascribed to 
Irnerius, a distinguished jurist of the twelfth century, and a pro- 
fessor at Bologna. Mention of them was made by Robert de 
Courcon in 1215; and the term Bachelor of Arts, occurs in the 
bull of Pope Gregory, ix. in 1 23 1 . At this period, a new impetus 
was given to collegiate instruction, and in the same century, 
in addition to the universities of Paris and Oxford, we find 
those of Toulouse, Bologna, Naples, Padua, Salamanca, and 
Cambridge; and in the next two centuries, between twenty 
and thirty additional ones of eminence were established. Shall 
we ask, was their establishment followed by any remarkable 
events? History points to those centuries, as the time of the 
awaking of mind, and the formation of those very systems 
now completely developed. That age was a dark one in po- 
litical relations. Tyranny was absolute and unrelenting. The 
common people were in a state of abject slavery, attached to 
the soil and transposable as goods and chatties, by the power 
of the nobility. The code of jurisprudence was lamentably 
defective, but in it, the first great change was produced. The 
Roman law was revived and introduced into the universities. 
The youth crowded to the lectures, and by their means more 



27 



correct notions were generally diffused. Trials by single 
combat, by signs and charms, by the "Judgments of God" as 
they were termed, were gradually abandoned; and order and 
regularity were established in the courts of judicature. As 
ideas of justice prevailed, the condition of the peasantry was 
ameliorated. Princes enfranchised their serfs, and exhorted 
their nobility to do the same. Cities and villages acquired 
freedom, and a spirit of enterprise and industry became wide- 
ly diffused. Notions of individual rights were soon extended 
to national, and the claims of the monarch were regarded 
with jealousy by his subjects. Even Louis X. as early as 
1315, declared publicly when manumitting his serfs, that "all 
men by birth should be free and equal." Such sentiments ex- 
ercised a powerful influence, and republics sprang up through- 
out Italy, Spain, and other parts of the south of Europe. 
But principles were not sufficiently settled, the mass of the 
people were not yet enhghtened, and morals were grossly 
defective. These infant republics were soon torn with fac- 
tions and gradually immerged into monarchies. In the four- 
teenth century, the cantons of Switzerland founded their go- 
vernment, and have since been independent of regal power. 
The i^ame sentiments spread rapidly in England, and early in 
the thirteenth, the memorable Magna Cliarta was signed, as 
an acknowledgement of popular rights. Since that period, 
liberty has been progressive, and has but developed the same 
principles in greater maturity and beauty, in the formation of 
the America nConstitution, that noblest work of man. Yet 
some there are, even in this favored land, so ignorant of histo- 
ry, and so grovelling in all their conceptions, that they public- 
ly declaim against colleges as fostering aristocracy. Such men, 
had they lived in other days, would have been the first to 
strangle liberty in her cradle, and bowing their own neck to 
the foot of the despot, to swear allegiance to his throne. 

All the parts of truth are intimately connected. The dis- 
covery of one leads to the discovery of others. As universi- 
ties promoted the knowledge of popular rights, so those rights 
being understood, and having been even partially enjoyed, 
produced a buoyancy and elasticity of mind which reacted up- 
on the universities. Each supported the other, and as the desire 



28 



for information increased, the course was extended. Former- 
ly the branches taught were the Trivium, embracing Rhet- 
eric, Logic and Grammar, and the Quadrivium including A- 
rithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. But with the 
new arrangements, new studies were introduced, the writings 
of the ancients were eagerly consulted, and nature became a 
subject of investigation. Astronomy began to throw aside its 
astrological character, and Natural History and Chemistry 
though yet very imperfect, began to attract attention. Men? 
thought more freely, and consequently more was written. At 
this juncture commenced the great improvement of the arts. 
Something was needed upon which to write. Parchment was 
too costly, and bark too fragile. It is said that the manufacture 
of paper from linen was first devised in the ninth century, but 
it was not generally known until the early part of the four- 
teenth century. A suitable substance being prepared, wri- 
tings were multiplied, but still owing to the labor of transcrip- 
tion, books were exceedingly costly. A copy of the New 
Testament was sold in 1429 for £40, being at this time the an- 
nual salary of a professor in Oxford. It required an immense 
fortune to purchase a library. To remedy this inconvenience? 
the art of printing was invented, and probably about 1431, the 
press began to work. This constituted a new era in literature. 
Information spread rapidly, a knowledge of History and Geog- 
raphy awakened a desire to visit and trade with other coun- 
tries. Commerce was extended, navigation practised, and 
America discovered. Wealth flowed into Europe, the arts were 
encouraged and the refinements of life multiplied. Until near 
this period, the roofs of the houses even of the wealthy were 
thatched, and without chimneys, and glass windows were al- 
most unknown. But from this period, invention after inven- 
tion, and discovery after discovery, added happiness to man. 
We do not wish to be understood as affirming that all these 
improvements were devised in colleges. But it is certainly 
remarkable that the establishment of colleges preceded all splen- 
did improvements in those early ages. They were as radiating 
points, as suns in the universe, dispensing light and heat. In 
them was inspired a thirst for enterprise. Their alumni went 
forth and acted on community. New facts were carefully re- 



29 



ported, and these again were disseminated, so that with tele- 
graphic facihty, information spread from mind to mind, and 
from nation to nation. Although many discoveries were made 
by men not attached to colleges, they were not made inde- 
pendent of the light and interest with which colleges had in- 
vested those subjects. The discovery of the laws of mechan- 
ics, the principles now embodied in machinery of all kinds^ 
was the result of patient and laborous investigation. To show 
how such investigations affect community, let us select but a 
single instance, the refractive power of glass. The fact, that 
light is bent a little out of its course by passing through glass, 
appears but a trival discovery. Yet in the hand of Galileo, 
it gave rise to the invention of the telescope. And what are its 
trophies? It has made man a citizen of the Universe — spread 
before his vision neighboring worlds — expanded his intellect 
by suggesting data for new calculations, and matter for profound 
reflection — revealed additional evidences of the wisdom and 
power of God, and enabled man lost in astonishment more 
feelingly to exclaim, "The heavens declare the glory of God, 
and the firmament showeth his handy work. " He has with 
this measure spanned the surface of the sun, and passed with 
the velocity of the "swift winged arrows of light," from centre 
to circumference of celestial systems infinitely distant and in- 
finitely multiplied. The microscope constructed upon the 
same principle, reveals a new world around and beneath us. 
Each particle of matter seems to teem with life and happiness. 
Organized beings are seen to sport in a drop of water, with as 
little sense of confinement as a whale in the ocean. The dust 
of a plant, which we carlessly brush away, is but a crowded 
city of living beings imperceptible to the unassisted vision. 
Nature thus speaks a new language, and is resplendent with in- 
describable lustre. The same principle, practically applied^ 
has produced the spy glass for the mariner, and furnished an 
indispensalbe part of the theodolite. And who, that has attain- 
ed to the age of forty or fifty, has not availed himself of the 
same principle, to remedy impaired vision. This application 
alone has been of incalculable benefit to man. The short 
sighted are enabled to take an extended view, and, the dimmed 
eye of age beholds once more the beauties of creation, as it 



30 



beheld them in youth. Nearly one half of human life is thus 
made available, to an extent formerly unknown; age is preserv- 
ed as a counsellor to youth, and the declining moments, when 
formerly "the grass hopper was a burden," are cheered with 
new sources of instruction and delight. Dr. Rush remarks, 
that cases oi fatuity are much less frequent among the aged 
since the introduction of glasses, and the well known history 
of Dean Swift would seem to confirm us in this impression. 
'Yet all these are the trophies of but a single discovery in mod- 
ern science. 

The connection of colleges with religious reformation, is by 
no means to be overlooked. The fifteenth century beheld the 
European universities in full vigor, and with their strength the 
reformation gained ground. Mind, taught to investigate, was 
not to be shackled by the dictates of assumed power. Nor 
were the pretensions of any individual considered too sacred to 
be examined. Go to the University of Erfurt. Behold that 
youth as he enters the library, and in his search for something 
interesting, takes from the shelves the Scriptures of the Old and 
New Testaments. It was the first copy he had ever seen. 
Curiosity prompted him to read, his attention was arrested, and 
that volume transformed that youth, into Martin Luther. That 
volume may have been the donation of some pious christian, 
and if so, who can estimate the consequences of such a benevo- 
lent act. Calvin received his serious impressions while pursu- 
ing his studies, and Oxford's classic retreat has had the honor 
of producing a Whitefield and a Wesley, whose names shall 
ever stand connected with what is pure in morals, spiritual in 
religion, and benevolent in enterprise. In our own land also, 
revivals of religion frequently occur in colleges, and many, who 
enter designing merely to study their own pleasure, are induced 
to commence a life of usefulness. Yet the impression is firmly 
fixed upon many mind?, that colleges are unfavorable to religious 
influence. Why may we ask, is this impression prevalent? If 
colleges were destitute of religious instructions, if young men 
were left unguarded at the most critical period of life, there 
would be some cause of apprehension. Such institutions, 
would in all probability be nurseries for vice and infidelity. 
But this not the case Avith colleges in general. Students are 



^1 






': 



31 



strictly required to observe the duties of the Sabbath. A portion 
of Scripture is read every morning and devotional exercises 
performed in the chapel. The text books are avowedly reli- 
gious in their tendency, and the morality of the Bible is rigidly 
inculcated! The associations also are generally favorable ; for 
though there will always be exceptions, yet viciously disposed 
young men cannot generally be found engaged in college pur- 
suits. If trustees have done their duty, the preceptors will 
always be men of irreproachable habits, and unblemished piety. 
And all the force of attachment will incline young men to 
copy their example. And w^ho does not know — who has not 
felt the power of example? 

Since then the peculiar regulations of a well arranged college 
are favorable to piety, if any further objection be urged, it 
must be against the acquisition of knowledge under any cir- 
cumstances. The maxim that "Ignorance is the mother of 
devotion", has long since passed away; yet there are some who 
still think that extensive knowledge is unfavorable to personal 
religion. If however we seek for the foundation of such an 
impression, we find it Avholly baseless. The better we become 
acquainted with individuals of high moral worth, the more we 
admire and love; so the more we know of the works of God, the 
more reason we have to worship and adore. As we have already 
seen, science wonderfully enlarges ourviews, and consequently 
gives us clearer ideas of the glorious perfections of the Deity. 
Those individuals, who have made the greatest discoveries, 
have powerfully felt the influence of this principle. Galen fell upon 
his knees to adore, when he discovered the admirable perfection 
of the human frame. New^ton, when he had almost measured 
the immensity of nature, turned all the powers of his disciplined 
intellect, to understand and explain the word of God; and 
Baron Napier, who by his discoveries in mathematics, had in 
some degree prepared the way for Newton's splendid discoveries, 
engaged in the same noble employment. The only idea, 
we can have of infinite hohness, of spotless purity, is inseparably 
associated with infinite wisdom. Man, in the creation, was 
made in the image of God, in distinction from animated nature, 
not in that he was purer, for all was pure, but he was wiser. 
He had knowledge for government, powder to control himself. 



32 



And if it be a command, that a christian should in his sphere 
be like God, he must seek not only for spotless purity, but 
also for extensive knowledge. The harmlessness of the 
dove must ever be united with the wisdom of the serpent. As 
if to impress this truth on the mind of man, God has ever 
chosen such as his most honored servants. Moses was learned 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and who was so highly 
favored as he? Selected to lead Israel and to stand before 
God, he beheld the exceeding brightness of his glory as it 
beamed from the burning bush, shone in the fiery pillar, 
or clothed itself in darkness when upon the cloud clapped 
mount amidst the flashing of lightning, the deep toned thunder 
of his voice shook the earth when declaring the majesty of his 
law, so that surrounding millions tremblingly plead that they 
might hear his voice no more. Yet in this terriffic scene was 
Moses introduced, and for forty days was pavilioned upon Sinai's 
top with the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe. 

View that young prince, the royal heir of Israel's sweetest 
psalmist. Deity in a vision descending, bids him utter his 
desire. See his bosom heave. Does he ask for wealth, for 
honor, or for long life? Not one of them. His single petition 
is for wisdom, and what does Deity respond? ''Because thou 
has asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life^ 
neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of 
thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern 
judgment, behold I have done according to thy word; lo! I have 
given a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none 
like thee, before thee, neither after thee shall any arise alike 
unto thee. And I have given thee also that which thou hast 
not asked, both riches and honor; so that there shall not be any 
among the Kings like unto thee all thy days." And he who 
penned his wise sayings, who wrote of animals, and of plants 
from the hysop that springeth out of the wall to the cedar of 
Lebanon, he, only, was permitted to build and dedicate a tem- 
ple for Jehovah. And while he prayed the glory of the eternal 
descended, and He, whom the heaven of heavens cannot con- 
tain, blest with His presence that sacred edifice. When Christ 
was about to appear upon earth, the joyful intelligence was 
first given to the wise men of the east, and they first brought 



\\ 



33 



their offerings of myrrii and frankincense and gold, to lay at 
the humble shrine of an incarnate Deity. The apostle who 
was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught in languages 
and sciences above his colleagues, Avas especially made the 
honored instrument of extending God's peculiar kingdom among 
the Gentiles, and was favored with such ecstatic visions and 
enjoyed such rapturous emotions, that whether he "was in the 
body or out of the body he could not tell." 

We have endeavored to consider some of the advantages of 
education, the necessity of the establishment of colleges and 
the influence which they exert upon the political, social and 
moral condition of the world. And however hasty and imper- 
fect the sketch has been, we are very confident that the reflect- 
ing mind cannot dwell upon the subject, without being fully 
satisfied that such institutions are necessary for the prosperity 
of any community. Deeply impressed with these sentiments, 
the patrons of this institution have exerted themselves in the 
noble enterprise ; and now, the Indiana Asbury University, 
erected wholly by the munificence of citizens of Indiana, 
having no patronage from the government, or assistance from 
abroad, opens her halls for the admission of students. She stands 
wholly an Indiana institution, and on independent ground; and 
desires to spread broadly her banner inscribed with "Universal 
and thorough Christian Education essential to national prosper- 
ty." Yet she assumes no attitude of rivalry. As a new state 
entering our illustrious union, detracts nothing from the glory 
and riches of the previous confederates, but rather increases 
their influence and power; so entering as anew member into the 
literary confederation, she will strive to piiomote, by all honor- 
able means, the general interest. As a star hitherto invisible, 
when it suddenly shines brightly in the heavens, robs not other 
luminaries of their glory, but only augments the splendor of 
the sky; so, while endeavoring to radiate truth and science, shfe 
will rejoice in the brilliancy of sister stars in the effulgent 
galaxy of literature. The spirit of the times is a spirit of peace. 
The bitter jealousies and rancorous enmities, that have subsist- 
ed between communities, are changed into treaties of friendship 
and alliance; and nations have at last learned, that the prosperi- 
ty of one contributes to the prosperity of all — that the interest 



34 



of each is iatimately connected with the honor, influence and 
improvement of others. So it should be in colleges; and so it 
is amongst men of comprehensive intellects and liberal views. 
None but the illiberal and bigoted — none but minds scanty by 
nature or contracted by prejudice — can look with envy upon a 
rising institution, or attribute to het increase, the diminution of 
others that have any well founded claims upon public patron- 
age. Nor can it with propriety be objected, that we had 
already a sufficient number of colleges in Indiana. The bare 
fact, that sufficient interest has been felt to erect these walls, 
is evidence that many felt the need of another institution. 
And the more we examine this subject, we shall the more 
clearly perceive, that yet there is no superabundance. 

The states of Massachusetts and Vermont, with a territory 
scarcely more than a fourth of oura, each supports three col- 
leges. Connecticut, with a little more • than an eighth of our 
extent, also supports three, together with academies and Sem- 
inaries almost without number. It may however be said, that 
that state is much more densely settled, and that we have 
more institutions in proportion to our population. This is also 
a mistake. Our population is nearly double that of Connecti- 
cut; and yet, she has at least five times as many college stu- 
dents. This is in a great degree, attributable to the fact of her 
institutions having long been in existence, and having created'a 
spirit of enterprise and emulation among her citizens. Our state 
is becoming more densely settled, and its wealth is accumula- 
ting, and parents anxiously desire to give their sons a thorough 
education. 

The only question is, shall this be done at home or abroad? 
Every principle of political economy, every feeling of attach- 
ment, and consideration of interest, invite to educate them at 
home. Our wealth is then retained in our own borders, in- 
stead of flowing into other states. The personal acquaintance 
of parents with professors, exerts a powerful control over the 
conduct of students. They are frequently cheered by visits 
from their friends, and their entire education is more immedi- 
ately under parental supervision. During their collegiate 
term, they are forming such friendships and connections, as 
will be of essential service to them in whatever profession they 



I 



35 



may engage in after life. Eastern parents, who intend their 
sons to reside in the west, fully convinced of this principle, are 
beginning to send their sons to the west to be educated. 
Here they become attached to our customs and identified wdth 
^ our interests. They are not when their collegiate course is 
completed, to be placed like polished marble pillars, isolated 
objects of attention, and perhaps admiration; but like the 
young and vigorous tree, deep rooted in the soil, and inter- 
twining its branches with those of a kindred growth, they 
mount upward, enlarging and strengthing with their age. The 
proper time to found literary institutions, is in the infancy of 
a community. Thoir influence is more decidedly felt in all 
the ramifications of society, and although they sometimes 
struggle with difliculties incident to a new country — though, 
for a time they labor almost without means, yet their prospect 
of permanence is much greater, than if commenced at a later 
period. The strongest institutions in the land were once, ex- 
ceedingly feeble. Yale, for a length of time was unable to 
support a regular president, and the neighboring ministers al- 
ternately officiated in its supervision. Yet Yale grew, because 
it had the affections of the people. Its sons, wherever they 
went inspired attachment to its interests, its funds gradually 
accumulated and it rose to eminence and distinction. Time is 
always requisite to prosperity and improvement. The order 
of Providence was a gradual creation, though His Omnipo- 
tence might have founded this fair fabric in the twinkling of an 
eye. And the same order is established in all things in that 
creation. Every institution must gradually increase. And 
when the friends of this University, refer to its short history, 
and its present standing — when they contemplate how deeply 
it is seated in the affections of the people, in all parts of the 
state — and with what a noble hberality they have determined 
to sustain it, they must feel satisfied with its prosperity, and 
adore the beneficence of a superintending Providence, who 
hath surrounded its commencement with such auspicious cir- 
cumstances. A more rapid increase would have been as the 
unseasonable germination of buds, only to be nipped by the 
recurring frost, — a precocious developement of some particular 
portion, at the expense of the symmetry and proportion of 



36 



the entire system. As to the course to be pursued in the insti- 
tution we have but little to say. Our plans will generally be 
similar to those of all well regulated colleges. Without claim- 
for ourselves, as professors, any superior talents, or assuming 
motives of a higher order than actuate others, our aim shall be 
to labor indefatigably, to promote the interests of education 
in the west. Whatever measure conduces to this, whether 
it has the sanction of years, or the freshness of youth, we 
wish to pursue. We are not of those who wish to change es- 
tablished customs, merely for novelty, nor yet would we perti- 
n aiously cling to antiquated forms, as the musselman to his 
crescent, merely because our fathers did fso before us. Our 
course of study is designed to be extensive and thorough — 
equal to that of older institutions; for the literature of the 
west ought to be equal to that of any other land. Every 
element of ^ intellectual greatness is here, independence of 
thought, firmness of purpose, frankness of expression and noble 
daring of soul, are the characteristics of our western popula- 
tion. And when to these qualities shall be added high culture 
of intellect, there is no ascent so steep, no eminence so lofty, 
no enterprise so laborious as to damp their ardor or cause them 
to shrink from the undertaking. These elements of character 
are the same which shone so conspicuously in our brave sires, 
whose gigantic intellects planned the collossal fabric of our 
constitution — whose hands toiled in its erection — whose blood 
cemented its parts, and calls upon us to preserve uninjured its 
massive pillars and its encircling dome. To every observer 
it must be evident that all eyes are turned towards the 
west. In selecting candidates for the highest offices in the 
nation, no ticket can hope for success, which has not one of 
its candidates from our wide spread vally. In our nation- 
al councils, the voice of the west is heard with delight; it may 
not have the elegance of the east, but it has the boldness of 
native sublimity. The eastern orator may resemble in his in- 
tonations, his manners, his thought, the lovely birds of plumage, 
whose brilliant colors and charming sounds command admira- 
tion. The western has no such claims. Beauty is not his 
element. He may be unpolished and severe as the eagle, 
but like him he mounts with undazzled eye and tireless wing, 



37 



until overpowered vision fails to follow him in his etherial 
flights. The celebrated Cousin, in his history of philosophy, 
remarks, "Give me the map of any country, its configuration, 
its climate, its waters, its winds and the whole of its physical 
geography; give me its natural productions, its flora, its zoolo- 
gy, &c., and I pledge myself to tell you, a jorion what will be the 
quality of man in that country, and what part its inhabitants 
will act in history." And if these principles be true, our 
scenery, surpassingly grand and magnificent, must produce 
exalted sentiments and emotions. To preserve this character, 
in its greatness, the defects alone being removed, should be 
the object of the faithful preceptor. 

Nor are the circumstances of our young men unfavorable 
to intellectual improvement. It is true, . that many are 
obliged to labor for their own support, during the^period they 
are acquiring knowledge, while had their lots been cast in the 
east, their expenses might have been defrayed by the sympa- 
thizing directresses of religious fairs. Still they will loose 
nothing. They may be longer acquiring a thorough education, 
but it w^ll be more valuable. Instead of the petty cunning, 
artful intrigue, and deep dissimulation, produced by such servile 
and unnatural dependence, there will be the proud conscious- 
ness of a greatness which was not thrust upon them. They 
will have a spirit to brook difficulties — a dauntless energy to 
urge them perpetually forward, till they stand upon the pinnacle 
of the temple of fame; while their supported colleagues will be 
lingering around the basement, v/aiting for fair hands to open 
each bolted door, and sweet smiles to cheer them at each 
ascending step. But while the course of study is designed to 
be extensive, there are some whose circumstances will not per- 
mit them to accomplish it. Some wish to be prepared merely 
for business pursuits; others, to engage in teaching elementary 
schools; and such desire instruction in some particular branches. 
To all such our classes are cheerfully opened, and our only re- 
quirement is, that what they study, they should study thor- 
oughly. Yet we are by no means disposed to encourage 
haste to engage in professional business; and where a young 
man's circumstances will at all permit, our earnest advice is 
to pursue the entire course. For, we are well satisfied that 



38 



young men, by commencing a professional course too early, 
injure their own habits, the character of the profession, and 
the interests of community. 

The government is designed to be firm and strict, but parental. 
The student will be treated as a fr iend, and every effort used to 
make him perceive his relations, and feel his obligations. But 
ifunfortunately, his habits should be vicious, and if after proper 
admonition they cannot be corrected, he must be dismissed 
from the institution. To .such an individual, education can be 
of no service, and he would be as a spreading plague among 
his associates. The precepts of the Bible is the standard we 
adopt in morals, being fully convinced, that apart from the influ- 
ence of the christian religion, no truly great or virtuous char- 
acter can be formed. The observance of the Sabbath, attend- 
ance at public worship in such churches as may be selected 
by the students, or by their parents, together with such other 
religious exercises a^ are instituted in connection with the col- 
lege, will be strictly enjoined. We are well satisfied that such a 
course will be approved by the enlightened and liberal citizens 
of our State. But the startling cry of "Sectarianism" may 
perhaps by others, be echoed throughout the land. Nay we 
expect it, because it has always been the favorite resort of in- 
fidelity. Eighteen hundred years ago, Christianity was the 
sect every where spoken against, and from that period to this, 
"Schism and Sectarianism," have ever been the cry of its re- 
lentless opponents. 

If by sectarianism be meant, that any privilege shall be ex- 
tended to youth of one denomination more than another — or 
that the faculty shall endeavor to proselyte those placed under 
their instruction — or dwell upon the minor points controverted 
between the branches of the great christian family — then theie 
is not, and we hope there never will be, sectarianism here. 
Indeed our college charter secures equal privileges to all 
students, without reference to religious peculiarities; and it is 
ever to be hoped that in collegiate instruction, only the grand es- 
sentials of Christianity will be taught. But if by sectarianism 
be meant* that the professors are religious men, and that they 
have settled views upon christian character and duty, then we 
ever hope to be sectarian. And what institution is not? 



39 



Where can the line be drawn? If it be sectarian to differ from 
one man's religion, then it is equally sectarian to differ from that 
of another. Where shall we pause? We must not believe in 
a future state of rewards and punishments, for that is sectarian. 
We must not teach that the Messiah has appeared, or the Jew 
cries out "sectarian." We must not claim the Bible as inspira- 
tion, or the Deist is shocked at our iUiberality. We must not 
deny the existence of pagan Gods, or Nero's torch is the bril- 
liant argument against sectarianism. Nay we must not ad- 
mit the existence of a God, or the Atheist will rail at our want 
of liberal feeling and sentiment. What then shall we do? 
Whether professors are Pagans or Attieists, Mahomedans or 
Jews, Deists or Christians, still they are sectarian. The only 
person?, who are properly free from sectarianism, are those 
who either believe all things, or who believe nothing. 

Our own course is fully determined. Education without 
morals is pernicious, and to have morals without religious in- 
struction is impossible. Taking then our stand upon the grand 
and broad platform of evangelical truth, passing by all minor 
and nonessential points, we shall ever strive to cultivate the 
moral, as well as the mental faculties of those entrusted to our 
care. 

With those who differ from us, we have no dispute. Free- 
dom of opinion and freedom of expression, are the grand bul- 
warks of American Liberty. And if there should be, even in 
our own country, men who reject the truths of revelation and 
wish their sons to be so educated, they can doubtless elsewhere 
obtain the previlege. Let them have what sentiments they 
may, if they even deny the existence of a creator — if they be- 
lieve with the Athenians that they sprang from grasshoppers — 
with the Egyptians that they grew like mushroons from the 
mud of the Nile — or with more modern infidels, that they are 
monkeys slightly modified — while they suffer us to pursue our 
own course, we shall never dispute with them as to their 
paternity. 

Permit me to suggest a few things, and I have done. The 
patrons of the University have acted nobly in bringing it to its 
present condition; and for what they have done, doubtless, pos- 
terity will rise up and call them blessed. But still something 



40 

more is necessary. The Library and Philosophical Apparatus 
require large additions to render the character and influence of 
the institution what its founders have ardently desired. Other pro- 
fessorships should also be endowed. A noble example was set, 
in the endowment of one of the, professorships during the last 
year, and it is much to be desired, that those whom God has 
blessed with property, should imitate such disinterested benevo- 
lence, and place the institution upon a lofty eminence. Such 
persons would experience during life an ample reward in wit- 
nessing the beneficial effects produced, and when their voice is 
hushed in the silence of the grave, "being dead " they would | 

"still speak." Nor can we conceive, of but few more interest- 
ing scenes, than the return of the disembodied spirits after the ) 
lapse of ages to revisit the place of their former benefactions. 
As hovering over these classic halls, they should witness the 
preparations for noble action — and should gaze intensely on 
those bright intellects; which even in their youth sparkle wiili 
celestial fire, and ardently burn to subdue the world to Christ, 
and to usher in the millenial glory — overwhelmed with the 
resistless rush of holy feeling they would fly back to the palaces 
of bliss, to join in still more enrapturing anthems of praise unto 
Him who had enabled them while on earth to perform such 
illustrious deeds, and bear such a noble part in advancing the 
Redeemer's Kingdom. 



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